Meira Kumar owes govt Rs 1.98 cr as rent

The Lok Sabha Speaker is holding on to a palatial bungalow at 6, Krishna Menon Marg.

Putting at rest the controversy over whether Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar was "illegally" holding on to a palatial bungalow at 6 Krishna Menon Marg, the Union government has officially admitted that she owes it nearly Rs 2 crore as rent for the use of the premises.

In an RTI reply to activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, the directorate of estates confirmed on November 4 that Rs 1.98 crore was due as pending rent from Kumar for this bungalow and a bill to this effect had been issued to her. The allottee of the bungalow, the RTI reply stated, was "the family of late Indrani Devi, i. e. Meira Kumar".

The reply noted that Kumar falls in the category of "persons having occupied government premises after losing entitlement". The Speaker is the daughter of late Babu Jagjivan Ram and Indrani Devi. The department had told Agrawal on October 18 that the relevant file regarding the bungalow could not be located.

"The 6 Krishna Menon Marg bungalow was allotted to Meira Kumar on June 4, 2004, in her capacity as the Union minister of social justice & employment, in which she was entitled to rent- free furnished accommodation. However, she did not occupy the bungalow," the directorate of estates clarified.

Upon becoming the Speaker, Kumar was on July 6, 2009, allotted bungalow number 20 at Akbar Road - where she currently lives.

"The 6 Krishna Menon Marg bungalow has not been allotted to anyone since then. There is no rule specifying as to how long a government bungalow can be kept vacant," the directorate of estates claimed. So how did Kumar manage to hold on to the two bungalows in Delhi's Lutyens Bungalow Zone, which is a clear violation of the allotment rules?

Kumar claims she didn't violate any rules. "The family members of late Indrani Devi had vacated the Krishna Menon Marg bungalow by November 30, 2002, and this was intimated to the CPWD, NDMC, director of estates and other authorities. The NDMC even immediately disconnected the water and electricity supply. None of the family members of late Indrani Devi was thereafter occupied the bungalow," a statement from her office said.

But a visit to the bungalow is an eye-opener. An NDMC board and a huge plaque there announce it to be the 'Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial'. Inside, the memorial's staff members live in the quarters; and a photo exhibition has been put up for public viewing. A bust of Babu Jagjivan Ram - which, an RTI reply states, is an unauthorised structure - is installed in the garden. The bungalow also houses an office of the said memorial.

But going by the documents provided under the RTI by the directorate of estates, the memorial's presence at the bungalow is in complete violation of a cabinet decision on August 6, 2000, which stipulated that no bungalow in the future could be converted into a memorial. Babu Jagjivan Ram stayed at 6 Krishna Menon Marg for many years till his death in 1986.

In respect of the Krishna Menon Marg bungalow, the cabinet decision had said Indrani Devi could retain it for life. She passed away in 2002. That is when the Speaker's office claims Kumar vacated the bungalow. But the RTI reply claims that the bungalow was again allotted to her in 2004, when she became a minister in the UPA government (though it clarifies she didn't live there after that). In 2009, when she became the Lok Sabha Speaker, she was allotted another bungalow, the RTI reply states.

But there are no clear answers to why the government didn't get the 6, Krishna Menon Marg bungalow cleared and allot it to a government functionary. "Babu ji (Jagjivan Ram) stayed here for several years. All his belongings are inside the bungalow... it should be converted into a memorialâ€¦ The trust pays the salaries of the staff posted here," bungalow caretaker Ram Singh said.